Teaching them to teach

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to teach everything I have taught you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What's wrong with this Great Commission? What's missing?

Obedience.

Jesus didn't commission his followers to teach new disciples. He commissioned us to teach new disciples to obey.

David Sills has written a book on the Great Commission called Reaching and Teaching. A better title would have been Teaching and Teaching.

It's only natural that a missions professor would want to emphasise the important of sound teaching. Unfortunately he unfairly criticizes church planting movements for their over dependence on the Word and the Spirit, and their lack of seminary trained clergy.

His energies would have been better spent explaining why it is that most heresy begins, not among ordinary believers, but in the hallowed halls of theological institutions.

When it comes to making disciples, let's ask: What did Jesus do? What did he train the twelve to do? What did the church in Acts do? What did Paul do? What does that look like today?